Interview With Cornelius Aesop of Monkey Brewster
Cornelius, please give my readers a background about yourself. What
made you want to start monkeybrewster.com?
I am quirky traveling monkey who wrote a few journal like posts while living
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That is where I was bitten by the travel bug, and
started my "Bucket List" which became the foundation of my blog. I have been
plotting my escape from the mundane since. After reading a few travel blogs
I felt like creating my own would help me commit to traveling and not have it
be just some far off dream. One of those would of, could of, should of plans
that never came to be. No, I would write about it and given my limited travel
experience, eventually I'd have to stop pulling from my one great adventure
and set off on a new one.
Since then I've traveled a few places to keep me sane, and picked up a few adventures close to home. I'm no expert and am far from having a list of countries under my belt, and yet I write a travel blog.
If you had to choose one favorite destination, which one would you
chose?
Brazil is where it began to me, and the city of Buzios was a favorite weekend
destination that offered everything that Rio de Janeiro had but was a bit cleaner
and safer. I remember sitting on the beach drinking caiparinhas and thinking,
this is what I want to do. I knew I wanted to get lost in the world, and while
I didn't realize it at the time I was finding myself.
In all your travels, which country has the best tasting food? and the
worst tasting food?
Oh I love tacos stands in Mexico, the odd hot dogs in Rio de Janeiro, but the
best food would have to be from Peru. Peru has such a blended cultural mix with
its indigenous and Spanish cultures, then over time included Chinese and Japanese
influences to incorporate a whole new culinary treat. You can go into a Peruvian
restaraunt and get a cook who looks native but cooks with soy sauce like it
is his favorite seasoning, and don't even get me on their purple corn drink.
I've had some bad food experiences but nothing so bad that I would label the country as having the worst food. If anything, I would have to say my worst food experiences come from traveling across America, especially when at local fairs. I like oreos, vegetables, and hot dogs as much as the next but there is no need to deep fry it all.
What has been the least exciting destination you've traveled to?
While visiting my wife's family in Peru, which may make my food answer biased,
we went to Paracas. I was hoping for a bit more adventure, history, and sight
seeing. There is a few sights to see, if you purchase the tours but not much
to explore on one's own. If the purpose of traveling there is to relax in a
quiet environment, then you're in the right place. However if you want to sight
see, explore and get to know Peru, I might recommend to keep exploring.
What impact has monkeybrewster.com had on your life?
I always loved writing, but now I can call myself a writer and I feel true to
it. It is work, but it is something I enjoy doing, I only wish I'd realized
this before and taken some writing classes. Additionally, I believe it has kept
me attached to the idea of travel. Which, I guess I should be thankful for because
I'm now actively working towards an adventure that was nothing more than a dream
before.
What has been the most surprising destination you've been to? Meaning,
you had a specific mindset about a certain destination but it was totally a
different experience than you had imagined.
I've been to a lot of big cities and had a general mindset on how a big city
should look or feel, and then I went to Tokyo. I've never been to a place that
was so clean and felt so safe, until I visited Japan. As the largest city in
the world I was expecting it to function like most big cities, in some cases
it did and others like cleanliness and safety it changed my perspective.
If you had to decide which destination has been the most influential
in your life, which destination would you chose?
My first big adventure, where I studied abroad in Rio de Janeiro. I had road
tripped throughout the US and border towns in Mexico and Canada but this was
the first time I really went out of my element. This wasn't a vacation stay
either, I lived and worked there for 4 months. I spent enough time there that
the carioca lifestyle was starting to rub off on me and showed me I could live
on my own, in a land completely foreign to me.
Cornelius, if you could travel with any celebrity for one week, who
would you chose?
Well, now that I'm a happily married monkey I need to re-evaluate my list @(^_^)@.
I would want to be with someone adventuress like Ewan McGregor, motorcycling
from London to New York. Then again, I think someone who would be entertaining
and enlightening to talk with like Bill Maher or Don Cheadle would be fun. I'm
not really a celebrity follower of any sort, so it really is hard for me to
say anyone specifically.
What advice would you give to a newbie traveler?
Don't wait, just go. True you sometimes need to plan and save but pick a date,
a location and go. Don't let someone talk you out of an experience because of
this reason or that and don't get bent out of shape when everything gets turned
on its head. Be friendly - go out of your comfort zone and get ready to meet
someone new. Lastly, go with your gut feeling and use common sense and you will
avoid most mix ups and bad experiences.
In 10 years, do you see yourselves still traveling or slowing down?
I haven't really started so it is hard to say. I would like to think that I
could find a way to keep traveling - but slow travel. Move to a country, live
and work for a while then onto another. I want to explore the world to help
find the place I want to call home. Yet, I can't make that decision until I
had the opportunity to compare to everything else. I can only hope that my whatever
happens it will be a joint decision between my wife and I.
Thanks Cornelius for the interview. Please visit his blog @ Monkey Brewster !
Follow Him on Twitter and Friend Him on FaceBook !
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